One of Seoul’s nicest hotels, the Shilla, stumbled last week into a cultural firestorm when a restaurant employee turned away one of South Korea’s leading designers of the traditional hanbok dress, who was wearing one of her creations. The dress, which has a wide flowing skirt, was deemed too risky for sidling up to the buffet tables. In the outrage-and-shame-and-apology cycle that’s typical in South Korea, the Shilla hanbok story would have ended when the Shilla’s Lee Boo-jin went to designer Lee Hye-sun’s office and reportedly said, “I can’t even lift my head.” But then politicians got involved. Read More »

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Korea Real Time provides sharp analysis and insight into what’s making news on the Korean peninsula. We chronicle the growing pains of South Korea — a country that has skyrocketed into the club of the world’s richest nations but now faces significant headwinds, and shine a spotlight on one of the world’s biggest geopolitical flashpoints: North Korea. Drawing on the expertise of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, we’ll tell the stories behind the headlines in business, economics, politics, culture and lifestyle. You can contact the editors at korearealtime@wsj.com